Time out? You can relax with a book in the garden on this modern and stable garden bench made of concrete and wooden planks.
Concrete and wood are materials that are often used in the garden because they are durable and easy to work with. A stable and modern bench that invites you to linger and enjoy is created in no time from leftover decking boards and L-stones.
Materials & Tools:
- 2 x gray L-stones, 400 x 400 x 400mm (usually intended for edging small flower beds or lawns)
- 3 x Douglas fir decking boards: 28 x 125 x 1500 mm (or saw off the leftovers accordingly)
- 2 x Douglas fir substructure: 40 x 70 mm x 400 mm
- 12 x stainless steel screws 5 x 60 mm
- 6 x stainless steel screws 6 x 80 mm
- 6 x 6mm universal anchors
- Ruler, pencil, square, hammer
- jigsaw
- Sanding block with 150 grit sandpaper
- Cordless impact drill with 4 mm wood drill bit and 6 mm masonry drill bit
- countersink
- wood oil, brush
sawing floorboards
Two pieces of wood with a length of 40 centimeters are required for the substructure. Mark the dimensions on the squared timber and saw them accordingly. If the planks are not yet the exact size or you are using leftover terrace planks, shorten them to 150 cm. Then carefully smooth the cut edges.
Tip: If you buy the wood new, have it cut to the correct dimensions directly at the hardware store.
Oil floorboards
To better protect the wood from the weather, oil the floorboards and the substructure twice on both sides. You should treat the cut edges three times. Allow to dry thoroughly after each application.
drill holes
Now drill and countersink three evenly spaced holes in the center of the substructure using the 4 mm wood drill bit. Keep a distance of three centimeters to each side so that the wood does not splinter or tear later when screwing. Then transfer the drill holes to the upper edge of the L-bricks and carefully drill with a percussion drill and the 6 mm masonry bit.
Tip: so that you know how deep you have to drill, you can mark the dowel length on the masonry drill bit with masking tape.
Assemble the substructure
Now carefully hammer the dowels into the drill holes. Then place the pre-drilled squared timbers flush and precisely on the L-stones and screw them tight with the 6 x 60 mm decking screws.
Pre-drill planks
Now position the L-stones at the desired spot in the garden and align them at a distance of 150 centimetres. Make sure that the ground is level and stable. Then lay the wooden floorboards flush and with equal spacing on the substructure and mark two drill holes each with a square and pencil. Here, too, you should keep a distance of one and a half centimeters to the sides. When marking, make sure that you don’t hit any screws from the underlying profile. Then drill clean.
Install decking
Now you can screw the three planks to the substructure. To do this, place the floorboards flush and with the same spacing between them and screw them together with the 5 x 60 mm stainless steel screws. Make sure that the screw heads do not protrude. Finished!
